From ballboy to player to assistant coach, Tony Henney held Nordhoff High football close to his heart.

Now the 31-year-old returns as the school's second head football coach in two decades.

Henney has been hired as Nordhoff's head coach, replacing Cliff Farrar, announced principal Dan Musick.

Farrar, the fourth winningest football coach in Ventura County history with a 150-98-2 record, resigned last winter to become the coach at Buena. Farrar's Nordhoff teams won nine Frontier League titles and made four CIF section championship finals.

"I remember my grandfather taking me to Nordhoff games when I was 7 years old," said Henney. "We lost homecoming games 40-0. Cliff came and changed it all."

As a senior wide receiver, Henney was a member of the first Nordhoff team to reach the section finals, losing to Atascadero in the 1994 Division XI title game.

"Tony is really enthusiastic about coming back," said Musick. "He really bleeds Ranger football. He's very good at communicating and bringing the community together."

Henney has been an assistant with the San Luis Obispo High football program. He was hired as a student assistant with the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team last January. A year away from graduating from Cal Poly, Henney will continue to work on his degree while coaching, said Musick.

"What I remember most about Nordhoff football was the tradition and the passion," said Henney. "We had an attitude that we could overcome our opponent and do it at any time. Cliff was responsible for all of that."

One of Farrar's sons, Russell, is Henney's closest friend. Russell Farrar and Jesse Hawkins, both former Nordhoff players, will join the football staff, which includes many of longtime program assistants.

An inkling that Henney would become a football coach one day was detected at an early age.

"You could see that he was into strategy as a 14- and 15-year-old," said Musick. "He would pay attention to what the coaches were doing."

After Henney left Ojai for San Luis Obispo six years ago, he kept in touch with the school.

Becoming the school's next head coach was not on his mind.

"I wasn't thinking about Nordhoff in those terms," said Henney. "I didn't know when Cliff would leave. When he took the Buena job, I received a few calls. Nobody tried to talk me into it."

Talking is one of Henney's assets.

"Tony is very good at communicating," said Musick. "He talks to the kids the right way.

"He wants to graduate his players as better men. That really sold us."